UPDATE: Man Accused Of Killing His Girlfriend Enters Plea

UPDATE: Man Accused Of Killing His Girlfriend Enters Plea

A 24-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment on Rockford’s East side Saturday morning after Rockford police responded to a disturbance call.

Savannah Johnson (Alexis McAdams)

UPDATE (4:14pm): Key entered a plea of not guilty in a Winnebago County Courtroom Wednesday. He's due back in court July 7.

UPDATE (2:02pm): Key is charged with two counts each of 1st degree murder and intent to commit 1st degree murder. His bond is set at $2 million. Key's next court date is June 11.

UPDATE (5/5/14): Key is scheduled to be in court Monday at 1:30pm.

ROCKFORD -A 24-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment on Rockford’s East side Saturday morning after Rockford police responded to a disturbance call. Eyewitness News talked with friends and neighbors and has more on the deadly domestic incident.

"The first scream I heard, it was like a cry for help." said a next door neighbor who heard the domestic dispute escalate. That cry for help was the last thing that neighbors heard before 24-year-old Savannah Johnson was allegedly shot and killed by her 26 year old boyfriend Jamie Key

After neighbors heard those horrific screams, they called the Rockford police department who arrived right here to this address, and they say it turned out to be a deadly, domestic dispute.

Assistant Deputy Chief Doug Pann of the Rockford Police Department said “When the officers arrived, they located a 24-year-old Rockford woman inside of the apartment deceased; there was no one else here at the time”

Neighbors who did not want to be shown on camera said things grew quiet until they got worse. "And then about a half hour later, I was in my room, and I heard a gun shot, and then I heard kids screaming" said a neighbor.

Those screams came from the couples two children who were there as Key allegedly shot their mother. "There were children present during in the house at the time that the incident happened”

It only took the Rockford Police Department four hours to locate Key who was inside of an apartment building a few blocks away, but getting him to surrender took longer. "We asked him to come out of the apartment, he refused, and six hours later, he surrendered to the police. He was not injured in the incident, and neither were any of the police officers” said Deputy Chief Doug Pann

Joanne Hood worked with Savannah at Morning Glory Cafe in Rockford, and said she watched her friend struggle with a domestically abusive relationship. "There was different times that she had marks on her, and she would only tell a certain few of us what was going on in her relationship "

Although many of her friends would ask about the Black eyes and bruises, Hood said Savannah seemed to feel stuck in the relationship. "You think you love the person so much that you should stay, but if they loved you, they wouldn’t hit you, and they wouldn’t kill you”

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